Aerial Raid! Lin Yuan and King Go Straight for the Prize Warehouse

Central High Ground.

Lin Yuan and King approached silently through the air. King used the Float-Float Fruit to lift them both, keeping them no more than a person's height above the ground as they skimmed along like ghosts. There were no footsteps, no fluctuations in their presence. Even Observation Haki could scarcely detect them.

That was the beauty of the Float-Float Fruit—it wasn't just powerful because it could lift enormous objects, but because its buoyancy could be controlled with exquisite precision. King had spent three months training to reach this level: floating two people without making the slightest sound.

The guards on the highlands were far more numerous than Lin Yuan had expected.

The Celestial Dragons' palace stood at the highest point, its white exterior dazzling in the afternoon sun. Three defensive lines surrounded it: the outermost consisted of two or three hundred ordinary Marines and CP Agents, spread across the intersections and high ground; the middle consisted of at least twenty CP0 elites, patrolling in groups of three; the innermost consisted of just seven or eight Holy Knights, but each of them had an aura like a drawn blade.

The prize warehouse was beneath the palace, a partially underground structure. Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception penetrated wall after wall and pinpointed its location—directly beneath the palace, about ten meters down, surrounded by walls cast from seastone.

"Found it," Lin Yuan said quietly. "The warehouse is directly beneath the palace. There are two doors, both reinforced with seastone."

"What about the guards?" King asked.

"Four CP0 agents at the warehouse entrance, and two Holy Knights in the corridor." Lin Yuan closed his eyes and focused his perception more closely. "Inside the warehouse... five boxes. There's the aura of a fruit in each one."

"Five?"

"At least five." Lin Yuan opened his eyes. "They're all high-quality. I can feel it."

The two fell silent for a moment. Five Devil Fruits, each worth a fortune. But their target was the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon—the Mythical Zoan fruit Kaido had waited half his life for.

"The plan hasn't changed," Lin Yuan said. "I'll go in and get it. You cover me from outside. If anyone approaches, hold them off."

"For how long?"

"Until I come out."

King nodded, the flames on his back flickering.

Lin Yuan opened a Micro Door at his side, no bigger than a fist. He put his eye to it and looked at what lay beyond—there was no one in the corridor. The two Holy Knights had just turned a corner and gone in another direction.

"Now."

He opened a door just large enough for one person and stepped through.

The warehouse.

Lin Yuan appeared inside the warehouse. It was larger than he had imagined, about sixty square meters, and all four walls were cast from seastone, as were the ceiling and floor. The design was meant to prevent ability users from breaking through the walls from any direction—but to the Door-Door Fruit, a seastone wall was no different from an ordinary one. A door didn't need to pass through a wall; it went around it.

Five boxes stood in the center of the warehouse. They weren't ordinary wooden boxes, but bulletproof cases edged with seastone, each fitted with a special lock. They were arranged in a cross, the one in the middle largest and the four around it slightly smaller.

Lin Yuan didn't rush to open them. He first swept the warehouse with Spatial Perception—no guards, no traps, at least none he could detect. Then he crouched down and began examining the cases.

He opened the first case.

Inside was a golden fruit, its surface patterned with a Buddha seated on a lotus, giving off a faint golden glow.

The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu.

Lin Yuan's pupils contracted slightly. The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu. The one Sengoku ate in the original story. He suppressed the feelings stirring in his heart, closed the case, and left it untouched.

Not this one.

He opened the second case.

Inside was a blue fruit covered in cloud-shaped spirals, like clouds rolling across the sky.

The Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix.

Not this one.

He opened the third case.

Inside was a dark red fruit covered in scale-like bumps, resembling a dragon's skin. Light faintly flowed within it, as though something were sleeping inside.

The Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.

Lin Yuan's fingers paused. This is it. Kaido's fruit.

Without hesitation, he raised a hand and opened a door in the bottom of the case. It was small, only the size of his palm, and the other end led to the warehouse on Hachinosu. The Azure Dragon Fruit slipped out of the case, passed through the door, and landed securely on a shelf in the Hachinosu warehouse.

One secured.

He had just closed the case when the sounds of fighting suddenly came from outside the warehouse.

King.

Someone was approaching.

Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception spread out in an instant. In the corridor, King was fighting a member of the Holy Knights. Flames and flashing blades intertwined, and the clash of metal was deafening.

But there was more than one person. From another direction, an even more powerful presence was approaching rapidly.

That presence was weighty. It lacked the floating sensation of a fruit ability and was instead pure physical power and Haki—its footsteps were heavy, each one like a drumbeat. The vibrations coming through the ground drew closer and closer.

Golden Lion.

Lin Yuan frowned. Golden Lion Shiki, an officer of the Rocks Pirates, ranked among the strongest in the crew. Wasn't he supposed to be on the other side of the island with Rocks's main force? How had he found his way to the Central High Ground so quickly?

Never mind. There's no time.

Lin Yuan quickly opened the fourth case. Inside was a purple fruit, its surface patterned with rippling waves like those on a lake.

The Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

Not this one. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was Whitebeard's target. Lin Yuan hesitated for a fraction of a second, then closed the case. He couldn't take all the fruits away; he didn't have enough time or stamina. He had to secure the Azure Dragon Fruit first.

He opened the fifth case.

Inside was a silver-white fruit, its surface patterned with gravitational distortions like the event horizon around a black hole. Even the light around it seemed to bend slightly, and looking at it for too long made one dizzy.

The Paramecia-type Press-Press Fruit.

Lin Yuan's heart skipped a beat. The Press-Press Fruit. In the original story, Golden Lion had obtained this fruit—no, that wasn't right. Golden Lion was already a Float-Float Fruit user. Who had ended up with the Press-Press Fruit? He couldn't remember. But he knew the fruit was exceptionally rare, one of the finest Paramecia types.

If I can take this fruit...

The sounds of fighting outside drew closer. King's fiery presence was retreating, and Golden Lion's was closing in. And it wasn't just Golden Lion—from another direction, another presence as weighty as a mountain was approaching rapidly.

Whitebeard is here too.

Lin Yuan gritted his teeth. There's no time.

He opened a door in the bottom of the fifth case, and the Press-Press Fruit slipped out of the case and passed through the door—

A hand reached in from beyond the door.

It wasn't Lin Yuan's hand. This one was larger, with gold rings on its fingers and neatly trimmed nails. It caught the Press-Press Fruit precisely as it passed through the door, its five fingers tightening around the fruit's surface like an eagle's talons.

Golden Lion.

Lin Yuan's pupils contracted sharply. Golden Lion hadn't come through the corridor—he had used brute force to smash through the wooden wall outside the warehouse, near its side door. He hadn't used his fruit ability, relying solely on physical techniques and Armament Haki. He couldn't break through the seastone walls, but the wooden wall outside the warehouse might as well have been made of paper to him.

"Brat." Golden Lion's voice came from beyond the door, low and hoarse, with a condescending laugh in it. "I'll take this fruit first."

Lin Yuan didn't let go. He pulled hard, and Golden Lion pulled just as hard from the other side. The two of them struggled across the palm-sized door, pulling the fruit out of shape. Its surface patterns twisted as though they were about to split, and juice seeped through the skin.

"Let go," Golden Lion said.

"You first," Lin Yuan said.

Both pulled at once.

Crack—

The Press-Press Fruit split open. A crack ran from its middle to its bottom, as if it had been cleaved with a blade, and juice gushed out along the split.

Both let go at once.

Golden Lion cursed and dragged the split fruit out through the door. Lin Yuan only had time to see a hand holding the fruit, now split in two, disappear beyond the door before it closed.

Golden Lion had taken the Press-Press Fruit. Though it had split, its power wouldn't vanish because of that—as long as someone ate it, they could still use the ability.

Lin Yuan didn't pursue him. He stepped back and closed the door.

Outside, Golden Lion's presence quickly receded as he left the Central High Ground with the Press-Press Fruit. King's fiery presence steadied again—he had driven back the member of the Holy Knights.

But another presence was approaching.

Whitebeard.

Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception caught a massive figure charging up from the eastern side of the highlands. He wasn't sneaking in, but forcing his way through head-on. The ground shook, and guards' screams rose one after another.

Edward Newgate. He didn't need to sneak around. He was Whitebeard.

Lin Yuan didn't move. He stood in the center of the warehouse and waited.

A few seconds later, a tremendous crash came from outside the warehouse. It wasn't an explosion or a fruit ability—it was the sound of Whitebeard's naginata smashing into the wall. He hadn't eaten the Tremor-Tremor Fruit yet and was using nothing but physical techniques and Haki. But Whitebeard's raw strength alone was already terrifying enough.

A crack opened in the wall. A Celestial Dragon's guard flew through it and hit the ground, blood pouring from his mouth.

"The fruit... my fruit..."

Whitebeard's voice came through the wall, deep and powerful. "This isn't yours. You stole it."

Another tremendous crash followed. The naginata swept sideways, sending another guard flying into a wall and leaving a person-shaped dent in it.

Then came a scream and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

Whitebeard took the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from the guard, glanced at it, and tucked it inside his coat. He hadn't eaten it yet; he had only put it in an inner pocket. The purple fruit glowed faintly inside his coat.

Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception captured it all. After getting the fruit, Whitebeard didn't linger. He turned and left. He didn't need to eat it on the spot; eating it after he got back would be just the same.

Another fruit had been taken.

Lin Yuan glanced at the cases remaining in the warehouse. The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu and the Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix were still there. Whitebeard had taken the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Golden Lion had snatched the Press-Press Fruit, and the Azure Dragon Fruit was already in his hands.

He didn't touch the remaining cases.

It wasn't that he didn't want to; he couldn't. The Holy Knights and CP0 were still outside, and though Golden Lion had left, Whitebeard was still nearby. If Lin Yuan delayed any longer, he would be trapped here. Besides, King had been holding them off outside for so long that his stamina was being drained too.

Retreat.

Lin Yuan raised a hand and opened a door in the warehouse ceiling. Beyond it was the sky above the palace, where King was floating and waiting for him, the flames on his back burning like a black flag.

He stepped through, and the door closed behind him.

In the warehouse, two cases remained open. The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu and the Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix lay quietly inside, waiting for their next owners.

Lin Yuan landed beside King, and the two floated thirty meters above the palace. The guards below were in chaos—some had gone after Whitebeard, some were running to the warehouse to check the losses, and some were shouting up at the sky.

"Did you get it?" King asked.

"I did," Lin Yuan said. "The Azure Dragon Fruit is ours. Golden Lion snatched the Press-Press Fruit, and Whitebeard took the Tremor-Tremor Fruit."

King fell silent for a moment.

"Both of them were taken?"

"Golden Lion reached in through the gap in the door and grabbed it," Lin Yuan said calmly, though the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. "It split open, but he took it."

King didn't ask any more questions.

"Let's go," Lin Yuan said.

King lifted them both and flew east.

They didn't leave God Valley directly. Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception continued scanning the battlefield—to the east, Kuma had already rescued a large number of civilians and was using the Paw-Paw Fruit to send them flying out to sea. To the south, Bullet's presence was moving toward the Central High Ground, with CP Agents strewn across the ground behind him. To the north, Moria's presence was very weak, and he was retreating with pursuers on his heels.

Lin Yuan frowned.

"North first," he said. "Moria's in trouble."

King changed direction and flew north.

Behind them, the Celestial Dragons' palace was dazzlingly white in the sunlight. The prize warehouse doors stood open, guards coming and going as some counted the losses.

Of the five fruits, three had been taken. The Azure Dragon, the Press-Press, and the Tremor-Tremor.

The remaining two, the Daibutsu and the Phoenix, were still in their cases.

But Lin Yuan knew they wouldn't stay there much longer either.

Rocks's people had come ashore. Garp was also heading this way. The battle for God Valley's fruits was far from over.

(End of Chapter 37)